Given that most words in Chinese are two characters, that means that when you are speaking, you are normally saying tones in combination. Since there are four tones that can start a word and five that can end it, that means there are 20 two tone combinations. Listen to the combinations below. For additional examples, watch (listen to) the videos below.
The following video is a playlist of 21 videos: one introduction followed by native Chinese speakers saying various words in each combination. If you want to listen to third tone followed by second tone, just scroll through and find that video.
Video Reference 高[gāo] tall 忙[máng] busy 好[hǎo] good 累[lèi] tired 真[zhēn] really 蛮[mán] quite 很[hěn] very 太[tài] too
*Two third tones in a row sounds like second third 太高 太忙 太好 太累 tài gāo tài máng tài hǎo tài lèi Neutral Tone – can only occur in the second character of a term. Particles are normally neutral tone.
Given that most words in Chinese are two characters, that means that when you are speaking, you are normally saying tones in combination. Since there are four tones that can start a word and five that can end it, that means there are 20 two tone combinations. Listen to the combinations below. For additional examples, watch (listen to) the videos below.
Tone Combination Examples
1st Tone1 1
1 2
1 3
1 4
1 5
2nd Tone
2 1
2 2
2 3
2 4
2 5
3rd Tone
3 1
3 2
3 3
3 4
3 5
4th Tone
4 1
4 2
4 3
4 4
4 5
The following video is a playlist of 21 videos: one introduction followed by native Chinese speakers saying various words in each combination. If you want to listen to third tone followed by second tone, just scroll through and find that video.
Video Reference
高[gāo] tall 忙[máng] busy 好[hǎo] good 累[lèi] tired
真[zhēn] really 蛮[mán] quite 很[hěn] very 太[tài] too
真高 真忙 真好 真累
zhēn gāo zhēn máng zhēn hǎo zhēn lèi
蛮高 蛮忙 蛮好 蛮累
mán gāo mán máng mán hǎo mán lèi
很高 很忙 很好 很累
hěn gāo hěn máng hěn hǎo* hěn lèi
*Two third tones in a row sounds like second third
太高 太忙 太好 太累
tài gāo tài máng tài hǎo tài lèi
Neutral Tone – can only occur in the second character of a term. Particles are normally neutral tone.
高吧 gāoba 忙吧 mángba 好吧hǎoba 累吧lèiba
高了 gāole 忙了 mángle 好了hǎole 累了lèile
All four tones in one term/sentence:
三十九岁 sān shí jiǔsuì 他是好人。 Tā shì hǎo rén 我不太高 Wǒ bú tài gāo。
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on to Questions to Consider